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RALEIGH – North Carolina citizens who are not registered to vote must do so today in order to cast their ballot on Nov. 6.

According to Democracy North Carolina, 300,000 people have registered to vote since the beginning of 2012, which is 30 percent less than 2008’s record number of registrations. The group's executive director, Bob Hall, says one reason for the decline is that the boom of registrations four years ago simply means there are fewer unregistered voters today.

“There really was a magical atmosphere that was happening in 2008,” he said. “This year, the magic is a little off. There are not as many to choose from.”

This year, there are as many voters registering as unaffiliated as Democrats and Republicans combined. In 2008, Democrats had five times as many registrations as Republicans.

If you miss the deadline, you can register at an early voting site and cast your ballot on the same day during the early voting period.Brent Laurenz, executive director of the North Carolina Center for Voter Education, says while the presidential and gubernatorial election might be driving most of the interest and media attention this year, there are many local and state races where every ballot counts.

“Elections do have big consequences and it is important to go out and vote,” he said. “That old adage of, ‘My vote doesn't matter,’ there’s less of that thinking any more in the past decade or so.”

The number of registrations is expected to increase after county boards of elections process their backlogs of voter registrations. The N.C. Center for Voter Education publishes a voter guide available on its website, ncvoterguide.org.